The Monarchs Are Back!

Spring is an exciting time of year. The flowers are blooming, the trees are leafing out, and the birds are singing. Also, the monarch butterflies are back! April is a little early for Monarchs, but this year they have arrived a little early. The ones we are seeing now with faded bedraggled wings flew here all the way from Mexico to lay their eggs. Monarchs migrate every fall to Mexico to overwinter in the mountains of Morelia and return to the United States when temperatures warm in the spring. Luckily, the milkweed here in Missouri is sprouting too. Milkweed leaves are the only food eaten by monarch caterpillars. Recently, at a client’s home, we saw a monarch butterfly that had migrated from Mexico laying her eggs on a butterfly milkweed that was barely an inch tall. She could tell what it was even though we couldn’t! We also found eggs on a common milkweed at St. Clare Hospital. We are hoping this bodes well for monarch populations, which have been declining in recent years.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 21st, 2017 at 7:36 pm and is filed under Pollinators Perspective.
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